George Monbiot Shabana Mahmood’s new rights clampdown looks outlandish until we remember that this kind of hardline action is part of our country’s fabric Our political memory fails us. We treat government policies as if we’re seeing them for the very first time. But much of what appears to be novel has deep historical roots….
Charlotte Higgins Encounters with great art can be absorbing, unsettling and even painful. How has this been tamed into mere ‘reading for pleasure’? It is the UK’s National Year of Reading. Specifically, this government-led scheme is about “reading for pleasure” and “the joy of reading”. This is not a matter of whimsy. Research has linked reading for pleasure in…
Emma Brockes The sex offender could exploit these masters of the universe because, despite their privilege, they still felt short-changed by life One of the things that has been frequently puzzled over as the effluent of the Epstein story flows on, is how a college dropout who thought it was cool to do typos managed to persuade…
We could never have imagined such tolerance of Putin’s criminal war. We normalise the horror just to survive Sasha Dovzhyk On a bright February day, over cups of coffee, my team gathers for a strategy meeting at our office in Lviv, 80km from the border with the EU. Our cultural and research institution – an…
Objectification, hate, rape threats: the politicians debating online abuse mean well, but to truly understand, they need to see what I see Anonymous If you’re anything like my parents, you probably wouldn’t even understand most of the content that floods my social media, no matter how hard I try to avoid it. Here’s a recent example…
Simon Tisdall As the war enters its fifth year, it’s time for Europe to take the fight to Putin on its own terms and tell Trump to get lost Viewed from Europe, the US’s failure to defend the people of Ukraine against Russian aggression is the greatest and most consequential of a host of recent…
Nagaland has no political opposition to peace. After a decade of accords, talks, and broken deadlines, the only remaining obstacle to resolving the Naga issue wears a suit and sits in New Delhi. By Oken Jeet Sandham Let us be honest about what has happened. For more than two decades, the Government of India has…
By Oken Jeet Sandham For nearly three decades, the Naga people have lived with the promise of peace. Yet, 29 years after the present phase of negotiations began, the political settlement remains elusive. What started as a hopeful departure from armed conflict has gradually become a prolonged process marked by delay, ambiguity, and unresolved contradictions….
Elle Hunt As fewer people choose to pair up, let alone marry, it could be that our species’ mating patterns are moving closer to the natural order Monogamy, you may have heard, is in crisis. Fewer people are in relationships, let alone opting to be in one ’til death. And even those who have already exchanged vows…
The sad truth is that we are witnessing a legacy of the over-indulgent late queen: an organisation unable to meet today’s challenges Stephen Bates Curious that the Epstein scandal, which has caused such an overwhelming furore in the US, should so far have done more to damage the British royal family than the US presidency….